Hi, When I met my now wife, she was living in a two bedroom flat that she'd owned for the previous three years or so...we tried to sell but she'd, unfortunately, bought it at exactly the wrong time...so we let it out. We had one awful set of tenants but, for the past two years, have had the perfect tenant, the sort all landlords want! We've had the odd issue with little things like washing machine breaking down, shower pump giving up etc...these were always sorted as quickly as possible and the tenant has been happy in our flat. The problems now begin though...but not with the tenant. Three months ago, our tenant reported a damp patch on the ceiling above the bathroom...this had also spread into the ceiling above the master bedroom. It had begun to grow black and mouldy. I reported this to the management company who deal with building issues and were told they would sort it. Great. A week later, the tenant texts me again to say that a contractor had been round, had painted over the mould, but that it had come back worse than before. It took many emails back and forth with the management company before they sent another contractor round to look at it. I went to the property as well this time. He looked at it and said "Yeah...must be some of that dodgy piping they got over from the Netherlands in the 80s...it's leaking somewhere else, we definitely stopped the last leak". It was like something out of Only Fools and Horses. I expected Granddad to crash through the ceiling, complete with a large chandelier...but I digress. I took a photo of the now saturated wall which clearly showed water trickling down it. I emailed this off to the management company begging them to sort it. All together, this has been going on for three months. I have no idea where to turn to get this sorted. I have no idea where I stand legally...can I get contractors in myself and bill the management company? Apparently, the insurance company instructed the contractors to do the "bare minimum"...unfortunately, I only have this verbally. My poor tenant has informed me tonight that it's worse than ever...nobody seems to be listening to me at the management company...what can I do to speed this up and put things right? Please help!

Hi, I am due in court in six weeks time to appeal the decision where my landlord was awarded rent, after I had moved out. The origional case was very lengthy ,and assisted with advice from the CAB (face to face), Shelter (website) and a solicitor (legal advise). The actual day in court took in excess of two and a half hours, during which I effectively lost. My appeal descision has been made and accepted, the transcript of judgement has taken over eight months to obtain, and are 7352 words! As my solicitor said - the simple ones are often the most interesting! My claim was actually for the DPS to release my own deposit back to me. The LL was thus the defendant. The legal arguement given to me was tha the Landlord had not issued a section 21 notice requiring possesion; Instead, he had written to me with a contractural change proposal. In it he advised me that my permision to reside had been withdrawn and that I was to leave by .... 'at the latest'. My departure date was therefore anticipated to be on an earlier date than the date the landlord avocated, and the rent paid to that date accordingy. My consideration and acceptance of the Landlords contract change was evidenced by my acceptance letter. My case was thus pivotal around the fact that this was seen in contractural grounds, which legal evidence seemed to support. The judge however saw things differently.... A few excepts: Me: It is contractural law, obviously' Judge: Well, it is actually more complicated than contractural law. Contractural law is a lot easier than landlord and tenant.' Me: But there was a new part of the contract that was formed with Mr .... letter. That is a new contract. Judge: No it is not a new contract. It is a section 21 notice or purported to be one, but not in the right terms of the wording. It is a perfectly normal legal position. It is all laid down in Parliament. It is not me who is making this. I was on the understanding that a section 21 notice had to be headed such, and needed to give the address of both the address and the addressee, for it to be legally considered as a section 21 notice. My notice was not. Could anyone help with teh following questions: a) I need to lodge "skeleton arguement" Do I need to argue against the judges's transcript, or is it case of representing the facts? b) Any other advise?? My main reason for my court case is not financial (it has cost me hundreds); it is moral. My landlord has a number of properties and he advised me that he was used to getting his way, with his tenants, many of who are on benefits. Kind regards

This is my first post so apols if I am in the wrong place + if this is lengthy. I am a LL who really wants to be doing the right thing for her tenants and I am facing a claim against me at this time from tenant whose AST finished on 4th July12 but who abandoned the property moving into a new property one month earlier leaving 2 cats in my property and the back patio doors left open for them. Tenant is claiming LL breach of contract / disrepair but only after LL has tried to deduct damages from deposit for a) Keeping animals against AST b) AST clearly states if animals found in property, cleaning, defumigation etc must be done and invoices supplied, c) Tenant disposed of a cooker hood and a microwave without LL agreement. d) House left totally uncleaned, I mean not even hoovered, dusted nothing and check out report states this and Tenant signed checkout report so agreeing with state house was left in. e) State gardens were left in g) Damage done by cats to wall paper on Hall, stairs and landings. Tenent has openly admitted all the above but refuses she allow any deductions from her deposit. I started claim for arbitration with DPS - tenant refused. I suggested it again, tenant refused. Tenant now served me with a claim for what seems disrepair, or rather a counterclaim to my wanting deductions from her deposit. There have been repair issues but I can prove whenever they have been reported all attempts have been made to rectify the problem. Things have been complicated as everything handled by a (not so good x2) management agent as I am often out of the country. Tenant has a proven history of failing to let contractors have reasonable access and with holding rent, particuarly around Xmas time and for several months. Rent arrears paid after several months but without interest. Repairs include; 1) Leaking kitchen ceiling - 2 plumber repairs done to bathroom, 1x repair to adjoining flat roof. One of the plumbers took 6 weeks from trying to get in to assess to completion largely due to tenant not been home when agreed, tenant cancelling appointments. 2) Tenant is claiming lack of adequate heating and hot water from Nov 10 to march12 - Boiler not only has gas cert but annually serviced. Leak from valve and drop in pressure reported Nov 10, rectified within a week. May11 - same problem reported and rectified along with rads bled. Oct 11 - Gas engineer recommended adding chemicles to system to flush debris out of rads but being adiment after 3 weeks rads would have to be emptied, flushed and bled. Gas engineer couldnt get back in to complete the flush. Nov11 - Gas Cert + service. Dec11+Jan12, £200 per month with held from rent, not picked up until mid Jan. When chased about this tenant said it was because she had inadequate heating so this was to offset her extra heating costs. She had done this without any warning or agreement. Problem with Central heating had not been reported until she was been chased for missing rent. Jan12 - Gas Engineer said boiler working but reduced effectivity, he gave option of repair or replace. I repaired at over £600. Few weeks later Feb12) tenant complained of same problem, Gas Engineer went back and did a different repair. Few days later, same complaint. I then sent out my own Gas engineer (as opposed to Agents) and he condemned the boiler stating it was over heating, likely cause - debris from rads going back into the boiler after chemicals had released them and the flush had not been carried out as Engineer could not get back in to do this. Agents engineer confirmed this was most likely. Mar12 - New boiler sucessfully installed. June11 - Agent notified me of foul smell from drain outside back door - I asked for further detailed information? Should tenant just put some chemical there? Is it likely a bigger problem than that etc - no reply and I was out of the country. A week later agent said drains had a problem that needed dealing with, I asked him to send contractor to assess, report+ estimate. 3 days later on a fri afternoon 17th June I got an email from EH saying urgent situation with drains needs immediate attention. I emailed agents on 18th+20th, they replied late on 20th saying as tenant had not paid any rent they could not assist - EH went ahead and served me a notice and carried out the works. Tenant is saying house was disgusting, dirty and needed lots of repairs when she moved in, she visited 3 times prior to starting AST, her guarantor is a solicitor, at no time did she write to say she was dis satisfied with the state of the house or the needed repairs when she viewed or first moved in nor with the repairs done, at inspections any repairs would be listed and actions put into place to rectify them. Within a month of moving in tenant requested a rent reduction which was declined. Tenant never offered to pay for any repairs and have cost deducted from her rent yet with held rent. Can you guys out there please advise, is it possible to defend a claim of disrepair? Have I actually done wrong so therefore should I rightly be paying compensation to this tenant? I really want to be reasonable but I have had both bad tenants taking advantage as well as very poor agents who have breached contracts and I really feel its time to "fight back" but only if I am in the right. I am desperate to hear your guidance on these matters.

Hi all... I have a slightly unusual situation brewing, about which I'd like some advice. I've been one of three tenant's in an old friends house for the last three years. Landlord is absentee, living in another country, and I've seen him face to face for a week in the time I've been renting his property. It's a pretty informal arrangement, I pay him the rent in cash into his bank, and keep both the receipts for these and my own records. There's been no formal tenancy agreement, though he's rightly realised he ought to provide one recently and I'm pushing him to get on with it. None of this would be a problem but for the fairly ominous post I've spotted in the pile's I've been forwarding to his overseas address. In essence, him and his long term partner are still using the house as a correspondence address for a fairly hefty debt to the local council (10k+), which looks to me like it's slowly going bad. I also suspect he's still registered as living at the house, on all but the electoral role, which I keep up true. The last demand had 'delivered by hand' on the back of the envelope, which suggests a CCJ and serious enforcement action is the next step. I've also been door-stepped by a collector some months ago, who I sent away. What's my situation as far as bailiffs and collections are concerned? The house was let unfurnished, nothing in it is the landlords, but from my experience of debt companies, they tend to get heavy first and work it out later. Any advice? Thanks!

Hi, I don't know if anyone can advise me here but I thought i'd ask the question anyway. My daughter is due to move out of her rented accommodation tomorrow and the landlord came round on Friday evening to say he wanted to do an inventory before she moves out and after she has moved out. This is the same landlord who said at the beginning of her tenancy that he would give her a few days to settle in and would come around to do the inventory with them. They even approached the Estate Agent who is supposed to be managing the property but to no avail. He also says that he wants the carpet professionally cleaned. Honestly, if you could have seen it when they first moved in it was dreadful. It also had to be reported several times to get a working smoke alarm fitted. I have since approached the previous tenant who stated she did not have the carpet professionally cleaned when she vacated the property. Is the landlord just being funny or is he going to try to withhold her deposit money? Any advice would be gratefully received. Thanks

Is there any official body to complain about a landlord.?

This is my first post and would be grateful for any guidance regarding the legal perspective on my below issue: I have recently moved out of flat which I had rented for 18 months and paid a £550 deposit which was held in a protection scheme. At the time of first renting the property was under a letting agency. However when I came to move out the landlord intended to put the property on the market to sale. The flat was originally a new build and the land lord intended to bring the property back up to new build standard as he wanted prospective buyers to be able to get a 5% deposit. Rather than the letting agency the landlord conducted the checking out process and inspected the flat and after some discussion retained £50 to replace a blind, light bulbs etc. A bit pricey as £20 of that was fitting of light bulbs and a clip on blind. He returned £500 to myself and signed a receipt. However I had cancelled by standing order, but the day before my next rent would of been due and my rent still went to him which was an overpayment. The landlord contacted me a week later demanding that I replace the kitchen worktops as there were some scratches in them which weren't noted by the letting company at check in. They are very light scratches but will not rub out sadly. He personally inspected the property and spent several hours there before leaving, yet did not say anything at the time nor was I aware of them.He is demanding I replace and will also not return my overpayment of rent. I have spoken to citizen advice who have advised I have a case for small claims court, as such as i have sent a letter the landlord. But has replied that any claim made against me will be counter claimed for these worktops and also hoover hire + other trumped up issues which were not picked up at checkout and in fact the landlord signed the receipt on the very surface he is disputing. Also he replaced all carpets and re decorated the day after I moved out and had already planned to a month prior as he had tradesmen coming in to give quotes. I feel that he is trying to take advantage of the situation to use my money to basically make the property brand new for sale. He has also demanded that any further letters from me goes via his solicitor who happens to be a family member of his. I cannot afford a solicitor myself to defend against him and do not know what to do for the best. I spoke to the letting agency who agreed with my evidence and my perspective, however as the property is no longer under them cannot do anything to help. I would be grateful for any advice as I am very stressed by this. Thank you

I am letting a private house on a short assured tenancy and have found a new home to move to. Looking at my tenancy agreement it states I need to give 2 calendar months notice which is too long as the new landlord wants me in asap. I was wondering if there was a get out clause and was going to use the fact that the landlord although been told for months has not undergone a Gas Safety Check and the last one was 17 months ago. If this is a get out clause any advice on how to address this would be much appreciated.

Hi guys; I was flat-sharing with two brothers, but I have decided to move out. The police raided our flat and found evidence of major crimes (I won't get into particulars for fear of compromising an on-going case) within the premises. I was totally stunned by all this as I had no idea, but ended up spending two days in the cells until I got liberated by the PF. Given the severity of the charges against my flatmates, plus the real possibility I maybe called as a witness against them, I have moved out and taken all my belongings, taking a witness with me at all times to cover myself. In short, my deposit of £267 has not been deposited in a rent deposit scheme. I specifically texted the landlord requesting that my deposit be secured via this system, as was the law. I got a long convoluted text from him outlining that he had an alternate system whereby one of my other flatmates had it, and so he was responsible for the deposit. I knew this was nonsense, but my flatmate explained that he would give me the balance, and he would be remibursed by the landlord. This seemed to make sense, given that the landlord lives down in England. Some crucial facts: 1) I have contacted the landlord by text and intimated that I have moved out the property. I have told him exactly what has happened and explained that I want no further contact with my flatmates at all. As such, I want the landlord, and the landlord alone to return my deposit, or some representative of his. 2) I have a reciept from my flatmate concerning the deposit, which was signed and dated on the day I handed it over. 3) I have the tenancy agreement that specifies the landlord will deposit the money in a rent deposit scheme. He hasn't. I am currently on benefits and tbh,what little patience I had for this has now gone. I don't want these guys profiting especially after ruining my life! I don't want to be out of pocket with all this. Can anyone advise the best way to proceed?

Hi there, Not entirely sure where this should be, but I'm guessing someone will help me to move it to a more appropriate location! I'm having massive problems with my landlord and I really don't know what to do about any of it. I live in a privately owned flat, although the council help me to pay some of the rent. I have been here for nearly 4 years and the list of problems seems to be on going!! When I moved in, it was during the summer months. As the winter approached, I noticed a damp smell and then, almost overnight, my lounge and both bedrooms had black mould around the windows and down the walls. I spoke to the landlord about this and he appeared with an idiot in tow, telling me the damp was my own fault as I didn't run my heating enough. The problem never got sorted, until I recently paid someone to come and seal the walls, treat them for mould growth, re-plaster them and have them painted, with an additional fungicide mixed in to the paint to prevent the problem coming back. My bathroom sink hasn't worked properly since I moved in. It won't drain at all so it has a washing up bowl residing in it to catch the water which is then disposed of. The landlord is aware of this problem and has been telling me it'll be fixed. Nearly 4 years later, I still have no functioning sink. The shower broke almost a week after I moved in. He told me he wasn't prepared to fix it as the previous tenant had had it installed. I explained to him that because he left it in the property, it was his duty to maintain and repair it, should it be necessary. 4 years later... Still no functioning shower. My toilet broke last October and I had to pay for a new one and someone to come and fit it. Now, the boiler has gone bang and I have had no heating or hot water for 3 weeks. My landlord is saying that he will get someone round tomorrow to get the job done. The guy has been coming tomorrow for 2 weeks now. It's getting to a point where I want to throttle someone because I am so stressed out. I have a 5 year old daughter who can't stay with me because there is no heating and no hot water. It's all just getting to be too much for me. My landlord has been explaining to me that he has just spent a lot of money doing up one of his other properties and doesn't have the money to fund the repairs that are needed here. The property he has just finished working on is empty. It makes no sense that he has pumped all of his resources into doing up a vacant property where there is work here that has needed to be done for 4 years. I don't know where I stand or what to do. It's driving me insane. What do I do?

I hope someone might be able to help me here, I will explain but try to keep it simple. I moved into a 1 bed flat in August 2012 and this was for a 6 month tenancy, it was a shorthold assured tenancy. I paid one months rent upfront, he didnt want a deposit. The second month came and i spoke to my landlord if it would be acceptable to make weekly rental payments as i get paid weekly where i work. He agreed. I went on holiday for 2 weeks in september, paid a few weeks before i went and when i got back mistakenly only paid 1 weeks rent. as time went by, the landlord noticed we were 2 weeks out of sych with the rent, not a problem, i will arrange a payment plan to bring the 2 weeks arrears down. Anyway, our front door was a wooden one, just like the one you would use for a bedroom door, well that was badly effected with mold, basically he painted over it after the last tenants left, i didn't see any problems when i viewed the property and when winter hit the mold was coming through the paint, i do suffer from asthma as a result have a weaker immune system so i had a episode of a chest infection. As it was winter the door was sticking that some times when trying to leave work i couldnt open the door that eventually over a course of a week or two the door handle came off. I did report the problem to him about the door about 2 weeks before the handle fell off. Anyway he said he get someone out to fix the door, the person came out to look at the door and said straight away that the landlord told him to just put a fresh of glossy white paint over but he said the door was that bad that only a new door would fix the problem. So the landlord came out, he was with someone who quoted him £550 for the door to be replaced with a proper UPC (if thats how you spell it). he then rang me about an hour later and said he paid a deposit for the door to be put on order and said that it would be installed in a weeks time. Which whilst i waited i had to climb out of the bedroom window to get in and out of the flat as the door was badly damaged. the door was suppose to be put in a week before Christmas and i got alot of excesses saying the door wont be done now until after christmas as the maching that bonds the door was out of order awaiting a new part. January came, still no door, so he paid someone to screw the door handle back in. I was not happy as you would imagine, at the time i had no fire alarms either. So already he has breached the law and the tenancy. He came to my property to install the fire alarms as he refused to pay someone to do it (BTW the fire alarms are powered by the electricity wire hanging from the celling). He went thought the rent statement and started to get rude so i ask him polity to leave, he got up and started to walk to the front door and so suddenly for no reason came back into the living room, and said 'This is my flat, if you want me out make me'. So i went to get the house phone and he started to get aggressive to a point he was that close i thought he was planning to beat me. I called the police, still refusing to leave, the police women told him he has to leave. So he did. As he walked out i got alot of hate crime, saying i was Puff (term for gays). That he hopes i rott in hell. 10 Minutes later, he returned only to try kicking the door in, i had to hold the door to stop him gaining access. Luckly i had my phone on me so i called 999 and the police were with me in less then 5 minutes. The police warned him and he was shaking by how the police was laying the law down to him. So from there i refused to pay rent, I also had to quit my job because i was scared to leave the property. Because of the landlords actions. He is now taking me to court as he is claiming £1058 for rent arrears/Damages. (he did serve a S21). I got advice and i can counter claim for the disrepair. But what i cant seem to establish can i also counter claim against losses to earning due to his actions and behaviour? CAB and Shelter both said there is a chance that there is but to seek proper legal advice (solictor). I have evidence of a Police Report, Photos of the Disrepair. Also what can i claim for? Thank you for reading, Sorry its a long story but i would like to ensure you get the full facts before advising.

I moved into my flat October 2012. It is a privately owned property but I rent it through the current council RAP scheme for temporary and emergency housing. However; since the date of moving in, I have had no running hot water. The landlord was first informed via the agents on the Friday the week I moved into the property. The landlord came out, stopped the water supply to the tank, removed the lagging and left. Two weeks later after consistent text messages to the landlord he finally returned and turned on the water system. His worker placed lagging around the tank (incorrectly I hasten to add!) and left. The tank still leaked and again more calls were made NOVEMBER 18th massive sewarage leak outside the back door of the flat and was left that way for 4 days, even after three phone calls to the agent to get it cleared up. DECEMBER 5th : I had an inspection via agents and showed the agents representative the tank. She made a note. I also mentioned that the heater in the bedroom at the time was broken. DECEMBER 8th: An electrician was sent out to repair the heating in the bedroom. I mentioned the one in the living room had also broken, but was told he was not authorised to repair it. I showed him the water tank which was still leaking. He called the agents whilst stood by the water tank and explained that it wasn't working. He was told it was being dealt with. He also asked if he could repair the living room heater. He was told no. STILL NO RUNNING HOT WATER! DECEMBER 11th my support worker contacted the agents who had told her that they had no record of the leak and the matter had been resolved. (ERRR NO!) STILL NO RUNNING HOT WATER! DECEMBER 23rd I switched off the water to the hot water tank as it was badly leaking. JANUARY 13: I emailed the agents enclosing photographs of the lintle that is above my door in a very poor state, and mentioned that the water tank still leaks and I still had no heating in the living room. My temperature in my flat was 12c andlord came round two days later, looked at the tank and left. YES! He looked at it.. tapped it with a screwdriver and left... It's almost laughable isn't it? STILL NO RUNNING HOT WATER! JANUARY 23rd Called estate agents. NOTHING! JANUARY 29th: I went to Environmental Health and explained to them that the water tank had still not been repaired. They had said they knew of my landlord and would contact him and the agents. FEBRUARY 3rd: Landlord came around with his worker and put some plumbers putty around the outlet pipe and left. FEBRUARY 25th; I go to local council and make a complaint to the RAP housing team. They said they would call the agents. FEBRUARY 25th Landlord turns up with his little winch monkey and replaces the lagging. He put it on the wrong way around and fitted poorly so it is not efficient in keeping the heat in. So I still can't use it. Since that day I have emailed the council over 20 times. The landlord had told them they HAD NEVER HAD ANY CONTACT FROM ME! They also said there was nothing wrong with the hot water or heating, I was using it wrong! (funny, EH and the council been in touch, email from me and they have never been told about it?). My flat is currently 9C. 46F (apparently I am at risk of a heart attack or stroke if the temperature is below 12c.. I should be officially dead!) The energy efficient team came round the other week and said I could possibly be granted gas heating. But when I don't know. In the meantime I am still freezing. They returned on Feb 27th and recorded a temperature of 12.8c Today I had a call from the head of the housing of the local council who assured me that the agent would be in touch about coming out to assess and possibly repair the hot water and heating tomorrow.. But guess what? not a call from anyone! Being in this fridge of a flat, I cannot sleep, keep warm and worse I can't have people around as it is so cold. So I feel I am living a lonely existence. My mental health is suffering and I have a chest infection. The current temperature in the living room is 7c tonight. What are my rights? 1) Can I insist the council rehouse me? 2) Can I sue the agents? Many thanks in advance. I do have a video and photos but I can't load them up here. Sorry.

Thanks in advance for any insight here... Background: I live in top floor flat with ONLY loft access possible through my entry way in my private flat. My landlord runs and owns business in ground floor. My landlord has, in the past, stored item in the loft, accessing them through my flat's entry way. Issue 1: Today landlord emails me to say "We will be updating the loft and builders will be accessing the space through your flat for 5 to 8 days." I am not comfortable with complete strangers traipsing through my flat for 8 days, and I only have 1 weeks notice. Questions: a) is this legal? b) do I have any rights? c) if it is legal, what is the required amount of time a land lord should give? Issue 2: Landlord provided 1 weeks notice before scaffolding was put in place over entire building. Despite my renter right to "live undisturbed" this is not happening as people argue outside my bedroom window at 8am in languages I don't speak. Questions: d) what is the legal amount of time a landlord must give to tenants before works like this happen? Many thanx! I have found slightly similar thread here, though not the same issue: 301953-help-with-landlord-dispute (I may not post as link since I'm a new member:)

I moved into my current flat in April 2012 on an initial 6 month short assured tenancy. When this came to an end in October I then signed a new lease for a year. About 2 weeks before signing this the letting agent carried out a check on the flat whilst showing a surveyor round at the same time. His words were "It's just for an update on the state of the flat, the landlord isn't going to be selling any time soon" Then at the start of this month I received an email from the letting agent informing me that the landlord has put the property up for sale and once sold they would give me two months notice to move out (unless bought by another investment landlord then things wouldn't change) I have checked with Shelter who have told me that no matter what happens, I don't have to move out until the end of my current lease in October, even if the flat sold tomorrow and a normal family wanted to move in, they would have to wait until October. Anyway, the advice I'm asking for is, since this happened I have applied to about 6-7 housing associations, many of whom have given me extra points for being close to homelessness (as I have 3 young children) So if I was to be offered a property before this one sold, where do I stand in trying to end the tenancy early? Also, since I moved in I have had permission from the landlord to do all sorts to the property (dig up stones in garden and lay grass, replace the mouldy blinds with brand new ones, re-paint the chipped front door, re-paint internal doors, paint and decorate rooms) As I was told that this property would likely be mine for quite a long while, is there any way to get some sort of compensation for making the property look far better than it did when I moved in. Feel like the landlord was just saying yes to everything now as it would help them when they wanted to sell.

Hi, I have found a nice house that I'd like to rent. The landlord is going abroad for a year and has asked me to pay the council tax and bills directly to him. I understand that this is not commonly done and have a few questions I'm hoping someone can help me answer: 1. I suspect that the landlord has not received permission from his mortgage lender to rent out the house and that that's the reason for not wanting to allow me to pay the council tax in my name. If that is the case, how would this affect my rights as tenants? In other words, if he is not allowed to rent out will my tenancy agreement with him be valid should problems arise between him and his lender? 2. In the event of a fire or a break-in, will our contents insurance be valid if the overall building insurance isn't valid because the landlords failed to obtain permission from their lender? 3. Can I be listed on the electoral roll if I'm not registered as an occupant at the address (e.g., through paying council tax in my name)? Would a lease agreement be sufficient for this purpose? Does the electoral roll office and council sync their data? I was ready to sign the agreement but I now feel nervous about the implications of this. The landlord seems very nice and honest, but I would also understand if he is trying to avoid getting permission since it might increase his mortgage. The question is how it affects my rights as a tenant and whether it's risky for me to go along with this arrangement... Thanks for any insight or advice you might have!

Hi Came across this earlier today and thought it was an interesting read and may be useful to others its in PDF Format:

I have a private landlord and is letting through a property agent who charged us 175 per head and £50 for contract renewal every 6months. From last 6 months I have been continuously telling them about mould in the kitchen wall were it meets the roof. A contractor they sent said the outward wall was not rendered and there was a gap were the roof met the wall, also the roof tile was broken. Till date they have not done anything. The house is also poorly insulated. No amount of heating can warm It up! The mould has spread to the other corners and the wallpaper there is peeling off. Once when it rained, I even saw rain water dripping inside through the wall. The agents kept telling us that the property has to be ventilated. The previous tenant told me that there was some leak on another wall in the bedroom and when I checked, there was mould in on of the bottom corners, the wallpaper had ripped and was taped with a tape. We still decided to continue living here since we couldn't afford a new place deposit. We paid them £50 and mentioned repairs. Today they came for an inspection when I was not around and sent us a report telling there was a large amount of condensation on the windows and the property was not ventilated, hence the mould. When I checked, I could only see condensation on bedroom window. But, how do I open it when my baby was down with cold? The mould is nowhere else in the property. They have also exaggerated the inspection report stating the house was untidy throughout when I had hoovered the place in the morning and tidied it. It is impossible to maintain it perfect as I have 2 very young children. I am really upset now as they are asking us to evict unless we improve the condition by next month end when they come to inspect, when they must be the ones doing it. We pay £625 monthly for this 2bedroom house without fail every month. And after all this, this is what we get?? Are they just picking on us so that they don't have to carry out repairs? I have lived in 4 houses in the past 6yrs and never even saw a mould. The previous tenant said he had to file a suite to get back his deposit. If the ventilation was poor, won't there be moulds in the other areas too? Please help! Is there anything we could do?

I need some advice, My landlord is taking me to court for rent arrears etc. my story is such, I receive housing benefit of £500 toward rent of £1150 my part is £650 I have been in the property for almost 10 years, I must admit I have on occasion been short on the rent but have caught up, the court case is for rent going back to 2008 the amounts the landlord claims the council has contributed each month is £139 resulting in an outstanding amount of £9000 this is what she is sueing for. I have obtained a complete record of the correct amounts paid by the council which bring the amount down to 2030 owed. the landlord told me not to do anything with the documents from the court for 14 days as amendments need to be made. I read the court documents when they arrived and leaving it for 14 days would mean I agree with the landlord's claim and am liable. I need to know whether I have grounds for a counterclaim and what my legal standing is for 6 years the property has been in disrepair where a room (washroom) was unusable and the conservatory was sinking for two years making this unusable. if I divided the property up into sections the house making up 8 rooms a garage and garden would make that 10, divide this into the rent and it would be £115 per section, as I have not been able to use two of these sections (rooms) can I counteclaim for a refund in rent for these two rooms. where do I stand with the landlords failure to produce gas safety certificate in the last 10 years bar one in 2010 and another a day after placing the court claim. If anyone is wondering why I stayed in the property it is because there is no deposit on this rent and I would need to find the deposit for another property. Right now I have decided that enough is enough and need to get out of here. this landlord has several other properties of which the landlord informs me of their circumstances.

i am girl and i rented a flat through an estate agent.(its a flat above the shop) On day one i moved to the house the landlord came without any notice, not even knocking the door and told me to leave the property with out asking any question.then i told him i had sign the contract with your agent and i show him all the paper work.then he left. 2nd issue early morning 7 am i heard noise that some body walking on the roof,then i went out side too see i saw my landlord were down and builders were changing the roof and installing a window.i surprised to see that.there was no notice given and he was carrying down his refurbishment work.i inform to the estate agent regards this matter and i were running late to my work so i call my friend to stay at home and i left.while my friend in my room in the early afternoon landlord just open my house door and allow the builder to do the loft work.as soon as my friend ring me i went to my house mean time they install the leader to loft as well then i told them to leave the property,he was to rude and arguing with me.i was so scared to live there,i call my agent and explain the matter.the the agent changed the front door lock. 3rd issue few days before 10.30 pm(night) some body were hardly banging on my door.it was my landlord again.he was telling that our bathroom leaking, possibly you might have block.there was no block pure acid in the bath tab.then yesterday he only him self came and told me that want to seal the bath sides with rubber glue and sealed it. 4th issue he wrote a letter to me that he unable to access to the property due to the lock changed,it should replaced it as soon and also he had monitor us with outdoor CCTV that in this property begin occupied with many people.he want to take action. he never keep appointment's or follow any procedures. my self and my boyfriends brother name is on contract but i had told the agent that my boyfriend will stays with me but his permanent resident will be different.after the 2nd issue his brothers also stay here.total 4 people that i had inform the agent also before they move in also agreement doesn't says any ware there are restricted amount on people. i had move to this flat Nov 2012 i got 12 months contract 6 month break laws. what can i do?????????????

Hi there Me and my partner have rented a property for just over 3 years,When we moved in we noticed a leak running down the back of the toilet and made the landlord aware of the issue but he never rectified the issue. Just before vacating the premises this month we recieved a large water bill of over £900 for 2 people living in a apartment. We can only assume that the leak over the 3 years has played a part in this as our estimated annual bill based on our usuage is only around £400 I have emailed the water company who have replied with this email Thank you for your recent email received by this office on 25 January 2013 concerning Water and Sewerage Service Charges for the above mentioned property. You have advised that you vacated the property on 19 January 2013. Did you obtain a meter reading at that time? I am unable to close your account until a meter reading is provided. I have been in contact with the owner today and he has provided an up to date meter reading. If you failed to obtain a meter reading at the time you vacated, your account will be billed up to 30 January 2013 based on the current meter reading provided by the owner. The meter reading provided today is 855 cubic metres. He has assured me that the fault on the toilet cistern has been rectified. All usage recorded on the meter is charged for either as a result of leakage or actual use of the supply. As the occupier of the property at the time and the bill payer, you are liable for the charges on the account. Your current outstanding balance is £960.20 for Water and Sewerage Service Charges due up to 5 January 2013. If you have a leak on the pipe work in your property and the water does not return to one of our sewers, you may be able to claim a leak allowance to reduce your charges. However, we can only compensate you for the period covering the last two meter readings, even if you have had a leak for longer than that. If you can provide a meter reading at the time you vacated the property, we can close your account and may then consider an allowance against the excess charges raised as a result of the leak on the toilet cistern. Please provide us with your current correspondence address and we can arrange for the relevant claim form to be issued to you. Unfortunately, I am unable to set up a Direct Debit payment plan on your account as you no longer reside at the property. If you are unable to clear the outstanding balance in full and wish to pay by monthly instalment, I can arrange for payment slips to be issued to you, however without a current correspondence address on our records, I am unable to set this up on your account for you to receive the payment slips as required. Taking into consideration the current outstanding balance and the fact that no payment has been received to the account since 2 July 2012 Our lines are open Monday to Friday between the hours 8am to 8pm and Saturday 8am to 5pm. I appreciate that this is not the response you had hoped for but trust I have explained our position. Should you have any further queries regarding this matter or your account in general please contact our Helpline number as above. Yours sincerely Now admittedly I hadnt paid my water since August which would total £360 at the very most. Do you have any advice on how I proceed as the water company obviously feel the debt is mine and I should pay it,However I feel it unfair that the leak that we brought to the attention of our landlord was never ever fixed and that is in the most part to blame for the majorty of the bill.

Hi, I own a property and rent it out via a lettings agency. It's purely as I can't live there and haven't achieved a sale. I have a tenant who is difficult but either way I may have an interested buyer and need the tenant to leave in reasonable time. I'm told that to simply serve notice is £48. Is there an alternative to this?

Been renting a property for about 5yrs, never had an increase in the rent. Replaced fridge at our own expense with LL permission (They didnt want the hassle) got oven repaired at own expense wasnt worth the hassle of getting LL to pay but now the dishwasher has gone kaputt. Agents sent a guy out cant be repaired so need a new one, and this is something we are not prepared to replace and then take with us if we move, so insisting that LL replaces. In view of this wouldnt be a shock if we get a rent increase but i was just wondering if there is a percentage that it would normally go up by? Dont actually mind an increase as quite happy where we are and we can afford one but at the same time dont want to end up paying more than is reasonable. To be fair we dont have any real problems with LL who although they have a few houses we also know socially and although they go through an agent with the house we do speak to them directly when we want to do somthing to the gardens etc just to check they are ok. House is unfurnished, but fitted kitchen, I would expect an increase of no more than 20% if in fact we do get one but i like to be prepared. Thank You

Hi everyone, I am hoping someone can advise me with some problems I am having with a previous landlord. As I have explained in other threads I have in this forum I was diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder in August this year. First of all, my employer, the NHS and my friends/family have been brilliant in helping me; however, as you can probably imagine I am currently living on a greatly reduced income. Essentially, on a monthly basis I do not have enough money to meet my expenses. In response to this, I have been able renegotiate with my creditors/utility providers (with the exception of NPower but that is another story lol). My problem is that I am paying off a circa £500 debt to a previous landlord in outstanding rent and really do not view this as a priority debt. Because I have to prioritise council tax, rent to current landlord (which is fully in order) I can no longer afford to pay anything to my previous landlord. The payments I have made so far have been made direct to them but negotiated by a small time debt collector who is working on their behalf. I am regularly reminded that they will take court action if I do not continue my payments; however, it is getting to the stage now where I am thinking that I should just let the matter go to court, accept the debt and let the judge order me to pay what I can afford - I firmly believe that this would be significantly less than what I am paying now. I know that I would get a CCJ but I am still very young and my credit is already blown to bits. I would certainly have time to recover financially. In the new year I will be starting a course that will very hopefully lead me back in to work but this wont happen for a while. What does everyone think - should I just fold and let them take court action. Please remember that this is not a case of wont pay it is simply a matter of can't pay (literally) Thank you all, timetoshine

Urgent advice required on this one please, as part of a local rejuvenation scheme run by the local council our landlord has signed up to have the boiler replaced at our property as well as having the outer walls insulated. I don’t know the exact details as everything is discussed between the landlord and council but for the past four months we’ve had scaffolding and builders outside the house working on the walls and it has all been so noisy and messy with drink cans and food wrappers in addition to the usual mess. Today (on the rare occasion I have time off work due to snow) one of the builders tells me that they’ll need to come inside the house to work on the boiler for at least four days from Monday. I told him that four days seemed a bit excessive and I can not guarantee that I’ll be able to get that much leave from work at such short notice but his attitude was tough luck and that they’ll come in whether I like it or not. So if neither my wife or I are able to get time off work, and I certainly don’t like the idea of just handing over the keys (landlord does not have any himself) to a group of builders, where do I stand? As the current boiler is working fine I don’t consider this to be essential but after all the time we’ve had off over Christmas and New Year I wish they could have done it then.

Hi, I have read lots of the forum in relation to landlords not returning deposits etc but my case is slightly different and I'm hoping someone here can advise me I was a lodger in a couples house (they had access to my bedroom to fix radiator etc, no lock on door) which I found on the spare room website. I did not agree any length of term or notice terms and did not sign any paperwork. They asked for £390 deposit which I gave and paid my rent monthly in advance. I didn't feel particularly welcome there but it was cheap so I stayed for 6 months until she had a fit one day and accused me of physically smashing her microwave to pieces, shouting and me and then storming off. I never raised my voice or swore, but told her that I had not damaged it. She stormed off and 10 minutes later her husband found that the spring had fallen out of the door and fixed it straight away. At this point I decided I needed to move out so found somewhere else to live and a few days later (26th dec) gave her a months notice to move out. I thought this was the right and reasonable thing to do although as we had no contract and I could have moved out there and then. 2 weeks later I had my dog staying, this was agree when I moved in that he could stay every now and then. He had stayed the night a few times before and it was never an issue. At around 1800 on a Friday night he came to me and said the dog couldn't stay. It had snowed heavily and I couldn't get my car out to take him anywhere and I told him he was being completely unreasonable as it was dark and icy and I had no where else to take the dog. He was adamant the dog had to go so I said "if the dog isnt welcome then I'm not welcome" to which he relied "well yeah". I moved out that night and asked for my deposit and remainder of rent being £563. I had to go back the next day to collect a few items and I again asked for my money back to which they said they didn't owe me rent. Since I moved out over a week ago I have emailed asked for my money which they have ignored. I am going to give them 7 days and then write to them asking for the money which I know they will also ignore. How long is reasonable to wait before threatening county court action? Also am I entitled to claim the extra rent back as I had no choice but to move out at their request? Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks